1. Related Field
The present invention relates to the fields of structural walls and soil-retaining walls.
2. Description of the Related Art
Masonry wall construction is a well-established art. Traditional masonry construction requires the effort of skilled masons to lay hollow concrete block units with mortar to later be grouted in place with continuous reinforcing cast into the system. The process is laborious, expensive, and time consuming. The traditional grouted masonry system is typically used for supporting high lateral load demands such as earth retaining walls and seismic resisting walls. An alternative approach involves bolting systems for stackable masonry systems. Such stackable systems are often preferable to traditional grouted masonry for ease, speed, and economy of installation. Previously-described stackable masonry systems rely on pre-tensioning or post-tensioning attachment of bolts clamped at top and bottom of wall assemblies or to the blocks themselves. These systems transfer tension forces to bearing connections that compress the masonry units. Since the blocks are held in place by compressing the block above and below each individual block unit or above and below the entire wall, the blocks require pre or post-tensioning of the rods, or the wall system would have no lateral restraint capacity. Moreover, the strength of a tension clamped system is difficult to predict or control because of the difficulty in accurately determining the bolt pre or post-tension load. These factors render such walls incapable of resisting lateral loads from forces such as wind, seismic or soil. Because of this, these systems are typically only used in applications where lateral load demand is low.
Related literature includes U.S. Pat. No. 6,915,614, entitled “Bricklaying Structure, Bricklaying Method, and Brick Manufacturing Method”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,859, entitled “Building System Comprising Individual Building Elements”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,794, entitled “Shear Bolt Connected Structural Units”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,987, entitled “Modular Building Materials”; U.S. App. No. 2007/0186502, entitled “Unitized Post Tension Block System For Masonry Structures”; U.S. App. No. 2006/0272245, entitled “Wall Construction of Architectural Structure”; U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,714, entitled “Modular Temporary Building”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,675, entitled “Method of Assembling Log Walls For Log House And Clamping Bolt To Couple The Wall”.
The present disclosure describes a wall system that is as easy and quick to install as a stackable system, but which avoids the downfalls of those systems and provides the lateral strength and stability of a traditional block and mortar system. Certain embodiments of the present invention provide preferable alternatives to both traditional masonry construction, and to previous stackable systems. Such embodiments provide for walls (e.g. soil-retaining walls) that enjoy the benefits of both previously-known systems, but that do not suffer from the disadvantages of either. Walls as described herein can be quickly and easily assembled and also have a high resistance to lateral forces.